Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins
| Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Video by Gwar | ||||
| Released | 1998 | |||
| Recorded | November 13, 1997 | |||
| Genre | Thrash metal, punk rock | |||
| Length | 60 min | |||
| Label | Metal Blade | |||
| Producer | Hunter Jackson, Dave Brockie | |||
| Gwar chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins is a Gwar video of a live performance (the final performance in the Carnival of Chaos tour cycles - November 13, 1997, at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C.). The album story-line is explained in the video, to a certain extent.
Plot
Techno Destructo is behind all of the major assaults on Gwar since his enslavement in 1991 - attracting the attention of the Morality Squad, summoning Cardinal Syn, who in turn dispatched Skulhedface, confusing the band into thinking the year was 1999 (rather than 1996), so that they would think the coming of Cardinal Syn was, in fact, the comet RagNaRok, and the slave revolts. Though they all ended in failure, he has yet another plan - genetically modify abused (by Gwar) penguins into his army, hypnotize Slymenstra Hymen with radioactive crack cocaine, and marry her (to spite Oderus Urungus). Techno builds a robot clone of Sleazy P. Martini, and uses him to distribute the crack, while the band beats up penguins (in their time-honored sport of "Penguin-Booting").
With the band incapacitated, he proposes to Slymenstra (the stone on the engagement ring is a piece of radioactive crack, as well), and sends the first wave of mutant penguins after Gwar. They are promptly defeated. The wedding, officiated by the Pope, turns into disaster, when the crack wears off, and Slymenstra uses her nether region to punish Techno. In the backdrop of "Hate Love Songs," he jousts Oderus. After he is defeated again, he commandeers the microphone, regains his robotic arm (having been disarmed upon enslavement) with the slaves' help, and attacks Gwar. Though he initially defeats the band, Oderus and Slymenstra ultimately win out long enough for a newly revived Gor-Gor (revived with the radioactive crack residue) to start eating him.
The concert ends with the subdued "Don't Need A Man" video, featuring Balsac the Jaws of Death on piano, Beefcake the Mighty on upright bass, Jizmak Da Gusha on a minimal (for him, at least) drum kit, and Slymenstra's lounge singing.
Set list
- "Je M'appelle J. Cousteau"
- "Back to Iraq"
- "Crack in the Egg"
- "Sammy"
- "If I Could Be That"
- "Penguin Attack"
- "Horror of Yig"
- "Hate Love Songs"
- "The Private Pain of Techno Destructo"
- "Gor-Gor"
- "Don't Need a Man" (Video)
- "Billy Bad Ass" (Credits)
Miscellaneous
- The concert in the video was Peter Lee's final performance as Flattus Maximus, as he became physically unable to continue with the band. Lee had been shot in the stomach four years prior to the concert, and was not improving much - he ultimately needed surgery, which prompted his actual leaving the band a few weeks later.
- The "Don't Need a Man" video was co-directed by Danielle Stampe, and features every member of Slave Pit, Inc. at that time in one scene (with the exceptions of Stampe and Matt Maguire, who were behind the door the other members crowd around).
- During her time in Gwar, Stampe would usually perform the fire-dance routine during the 1990 song "The Horror of Yig." During this video, and many concerts on the tour, this song was part of the wedding scene, and thus she performed it to "Sammy."
- During the wedding scene, the song the band is playing is "Don's Bong Is Gone," a Slave Pit Single.